Will Oscar Favor Political Movies?

“Argo,” a film about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, is favored to win the biggest prize of the night: Best Picture. Several websites — including GoldenDerby.com, The New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog and AwardsDaily.com — have it in the lead.

Washington and Hollywood have been closer than ever this year. Not only are films about politics expected to do well, but politicians have inserted themselves into the Oscar campaign and the nominees have made stops in the nation’s Capital to tout their work.

The race for an Oscar has become like a political campaign: nominees hold events, answer questions from voters, do their share of glad-handling and press tours while the studios behind the movies spend millions on ad campaigns, parties, and hiring the best consultants in the business…

Spielberg and Ang Lee, who directed “Life of Pi,” are seen as the two favorites for Best Director.

And actor Daniel Day-Lewis is favored to win the Best Actor prize for his portrayal of the 16th president.

Seth MacFarlane is hosting the 85th Academy Awards.

The “Family Guy” creator has espoused strong, liberal views on a variety of issues during stops on “The Bill Maher Show” and in other media interviews but he isn’t expected to make any political jokes on Sunday night.